


Negotiating from a Position of Strength

by misura



Category: Hawk & Fisher - Simon R. Green
Genre: Advent Calendar, Community: lands_of_magic, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-08
Updated: 2015-12-08
Packaged: 2018-05-05 16:47:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 305
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5382905
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/misura/pseuds/misura
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>How to get a night off by really, really trying.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Negotiating from a Position of Strength

"Now look, Witsworth," Hawk said, "either you give us this one night off, or we're going to be very unhappy with you. Do you understand what I'm saying l?"

Hawk's hand was nowhere near his axe. His expression was calm, almost friendly.

"You mean you might resign?" Galam Witsworth knew very well Hawk and Fisher would do nothing of the kind. Hawk and Fisher, in turn, knew he knew that.

"I was thinking more along the lines of: you might cause me to lose my temper," Hawk said. "Suddenly and violently and all over the place. Who knows, I might even scratch some of the new furniture."

"Which would be a shame, given that it's new and all," Fisher added.

"Fine." Witsworth knew when he was beaten. It was how he'd ended up with this job in the first place. "One night of unpaid leave."

"Mind, we do expect to be paid if we happen to run into any trouble," Hawk said.

"Is that likely?" Witsworth didn't bother to sound sarcastic. Throughout Haven, Hawk and Fisher had a reputation, and it wasn't one for any skill at staying out of trouble.

"Hey," Fisher said, "you want us to stay put and watch while people get robbed or killed, that's fine with us. We'll just tell anyone who asks we were following orders."

Witsworth knew that, if anything illegal were to happen in front of them, it was unlikely Hawk and Fisher would, in fact, do nothing. On the other hand, if word got out that by stepping in, they'd gone against orders, certain people might take that the wrong way.

"All right. In the _unlikely_ event that you run into any trouble, you'll get paid."

"Overtime," Hawk said quickly.

Witsworth just chuckled. Nobody in the history of the Guard had ever been paid for overtime.


End file.
